The Ethereum network development team is discussing the possibility of Pectra, the next major network upgrade, being deployed to the mainnet in two hard forks.
Christine Kim, Vice President of Research at Galaxy Digital, reported that Ethereum developers were discussing the future of the blockchain at their latest Ethereum All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) meeting.
According to Kim, Ethereum developers met on ACDC Call #142 to discuss the upcoming network upgrade, which is expected to be implemented in early 2025.
Pectra is considered a major milestone in Ethereum development, so its builders focused on addressing several related issues, including the possible splitting of the upgrade into two hard forks or hard forksThey also discussed activating new Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) on the blockchain and increasing blob gas capacity, reported Kim.
The split of Pectra on the Ethereum mainnet is being discussed
The main topic of the recent Ethereum developer meeting was the proposal to split the Pectra upgrade into two parts. Alex Stokes, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, suggested that the first part of Pectra could include only the eight EIPs that are currently active on Pectra Devnet 3. The second part, instead, would contain the remaining 12 EIPs that have already been approved, as well as possible additional EIPs.
According to Kim, the proposal to split the Pectra implementation was supported by some developers on the network, such as Teku’s Lucas Saldanha and Nimbus’ Etan Kissling, but also met with resistance. Andrew Ashikhmin of the Erigon team expressed that he would prefer Pectra to remain in its original form. Likewise, the developer nicknamed “somnergy” disagreed with Stokes’ suggested way of splitting Pectra.
The main concern among developers is that splitting the upgrade could delay the implementation of Verkle, another critical upgrade for the network expected after Pectra.
Challenges in Pectra Devnet 3
In addition to discussing the two-part implementation of Pectra, Ethereum developers also discussed progress on Pectra Devnet 3, where a technique called fuzzy to identify bugs in the Besu client. This has led the Besu team to work on fixes to ensure the Pectra upgrade runs smoothly on the mainnet.
Fuzzing, which involves feeding random data to a program to detect bugs, has revealed issues that need to be resolved before Pectra is implemented. Developers are committed to conducting extensive testing to ensure the upgrade does not introduce vulnerabilities into the Ethereum network.
Increased Blob Capacity
Another prominent topic on ACDC call #142 was a proposal by Francis, a developer of the Base protocol, to increase blob capacity on Pectra 1.
The blockchain developer argued that the current capacity of three blobs per block would not be sufficient to support the expected growth of second layer (L2) scalability solutions in the coming months. He therefore proposed that an increase in the blob target and maximum be considered, which would allow L2s to scale more effectively.
“Our main point here is about blob capacity for L2s in general. If we are putting PeerDAS in the next half [of the upgrade], which is nine to 12 months later, then we believe that the current capacity, three target blobs [per block], will not be sufficient for L2s to scale in the coming months,” Francis said.
Kim reported that the discussion about increasing blob capacity was met with interest, though developers were also cautious. Some expressed that more data on the impact of this increase was needed before a decision could be made. For example, Stokes emphasized the importance of limiting the scope of Pectra 1 to ensure that the implementation is as fast as possible.
A new chapter in the history of Ethereum
As the Pectra rollout approaches, it is clear that Ethereum developers are facing significant challenges. Discussion of the upgrade split, issues identified in Pectra Devnet 3, and the need to increase blob capacity are just a few of the issues that need to be resolved in the coming months to ensure a safe and successful rollout.
With Pectra activation drawing ever closer, Ethereum is positioned to improve its scalability and efficiency, which could have a significant impact on the future of the network and its decentralized applications.
Currently, Ethereum remains the second most capitalized cryptocurrency and blockchain in the market after Bitcoin and the leading ecosystem for the development of smart contracts and DApps, so the effort that developers are making to ensure that the Pectra update is implemented effectively will be key in the new chapter being written in the history of Ethereum, which has become more efficient as it enters the post-Merge era.
